chore

[chawr, chohr]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR chore ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a small or odd job; routine task.

chores, the everyday work around a house or farm.

a hard or unpleasant task: Solving the problem was quite a chore.

Origin of chore

1375–1425; late Middle English char, Old English cyrr, variant of cierr, cerr char³

Synonyms for chore

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR chore ON THESAURUS.COM

1. duty, work, errand, stint. 1, 2. See task.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for chore

duty, assignment, workout, errand, housework, burden, routine, grind, trial, job, tribulation, effort, stint, devoir, KP, scutwork

Examples from the Web for chore

Contemporary Examples of chore

Make the chore a lot more fun with a super cute toothbrush holder.
The Daily Beast’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: For the Blue Ivy in Your Life
Allison McNearney
November 29, 2014
Instead of a chore, choose something you love so you absolutely look forward to it.
Q&A With Designer Rachel Roy
Cynthia Allum
November 3, 2014
That there was a way to tell the story and not have been leaden—not be a chore or an ordeal.
Steve Coogan Makes His Bid For Some Serious, Dramatic Roles
Andrew Romano
November 29, 2013
But for it to double its user base from the current level will be quite a chore, and may take several years.
Gaming the Twitter IPO
Daniel Gross
October 4, 2013
Similarly, I learned that studying was a choice, not a chore.
If You Grow Up Indian-American, College Graduation Isn’t Enough
Anita Raghavan
May 31, 2013

Historical Examples of chore

Somewhere on these six hundred acres was the herd and it was his chore to find it and bring it in.
Dust
Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius
"You said running errands was my chore," he reminded his mother.
Jerry's Charge Account
Hazel Hutchins Wilson
The sooner he finished the sooner his mother might give him some other chore to do.
Jerry's Charge Account
Hazel Hutchins Wilson
I had started for the store, but then remembered a chore I wanted him to do.
Stopover
William Gerken
He did not force him, he did many a chore for him, always picked the best piece of the meal for him.
Siddhartha
Herman Hesse

British Dictionary definitions for chore

chore

noun

a small routine task, esp a domestic one

an unpleasant task

Word Origin for chore

C19: variant of Middle English chare; related to char ³

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for chore

1751, American English, variant of char, from Middle English cherre "odd job," from Old English cerr, cierr "turn, change, time, occasion, affair business."

Chore, a corruption of char, is an English word, still used in many parts of England, as a char-man, a char-woman; but in America, it is perhaps confined to New England. It signifies small domestic jobs of work, and its place cannot be supplied by any other single word in the language. [Noah Webster, "Dissertations on the English Language," 1789]